New Article on the Non-Zero Value of the Higgs Field

Following on my series of articles on Fields and Particles, I’m building my next series of articles, on How the Higgs Field Works. (These sets of articles require a little math and physics background, the sort you’d get in your first few months of a beginning university or pre-university physics class.)

The first article in the new series was an overview of The Basic Idea behind how the Higgs field works. I recently revised it to make it easier to read.

2 responses to “New Article on the Non-Zero Value of the Higgs Field”

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Now, for the first time, a new type of experiment has shown light behaving like both a particle and a wave simultaneously, …

I guess it all depends on how one defines simultaneously. The energy-time uncertainty principle states,

dE x dT ~ h-bar

… where the time T is the time in which the state of any observed variable, with an energy dE potential, remains unchanged. This definition of time is very different than the time in Schrodinger’s equation, which formulates the motion of all particle/waves.

What this means is that instantaneity does not exist, which is required for any one particle (wave) to be in two states at the same time, simultaneously. There is a finite time interval for a single state to change from one quantum number to another. So what the experiment is showing is a photon oscillating back and forth from particle to wave, but the time is so small we cannot sense it. The time is so small we don’t even have the physics to understand what is happening in that tiny, tiny point in spacetime.

What I would like to know is how does the quantum number(s) vary with temperature? The conjecture being that at absolute “zero” temperature the photon should be exhibiting only wave-like characteristics which it transforms into a particle as the temperature increases. In other words, the state of a point in space (the quanta of spacetime if you will) can be characterized by the energy it contains, energy density.

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This site addresses various aspects of science, with a current focus on particle physics. I aim to serve the public, including those with no background knowledge of physics. If you're not yourself an expert, you might want to click on "New? Start Here" or "About" to get started. If you'd like to watch my hour-long public lecture about the Higgs particle, try ``Movie Clips''.

If a Higgs particle is produced in a proton-proton collision, an LHC detector might infer what you see here. The two red blobs indicate deposits of energy left by particles of light (photons) that are the remnants of the disintegrating Higgs.